


I was born to endure this kind of weather

by mozartspiano



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-18
Updated: 2020-01-18
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:54:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22307737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mozartspiano/pseuds/mozartspiano
Summary: It's snowing when Kyle picks William up from the airport.He idles in the lane along the terminal. It's past midnight, past Kyle's bedtime, and his eyes feel dry and pink as he watches families exit the double glass doors in a flurry of suitcases. Kex is warm in his lap, curled up over his knee. He shifts his left hand into their fur.
Relationships: Kyle Dubas/William Nylander
Comments: 6
Kudos: 84





	I was born to endure this kind of weather

**Author's Note:**

> title from emmylou by first aid kit. truly the ultimate willy nylander song.
> 
> i don't think i would ever write this fic if i hadn't read [warm blooded by waspabi](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2475392) six years ago

It's snowing when Kyle picks William up from the airport.

He idles in the lane along the terminal. It's past midnight, past Kyle's bedtime, and his eyes feel dry and pink as he watches families exit the double glass doors in a flurry of suitcases. Kex is warm in his lap, curled up over his knee. He shifts his left hand into their fur.

"Don't see him."

"He'll be here," Kex says, quiet.

William dots into view a few seconds later. He has only a backpack over his puffy black jacket, a maroon hat, and Kyle's navy blue scarf tucked into his chest. Eudora trots next to him, snow white in the mass of people, and it is her amber eyes that catch sight of Kyle's car first.

"Hi," William says, flushed, when he opens the backseat door to drop his backpack off.

"What sort of time do you call this?"

"Snow storm in Stockholm," William says and the outside is muffled for a second while he closes the door, opens the passenger. "It was a mess and - hi."

"Hi."

William's face is cool, his breath hot air against Kyle. His mouth tastes sweet through chapped lips, sweeter still when William's fingers touch Kyle's jaw, the curve of his hair. When Kyle pulls back William looks pleased, long nose blushed pink at the end. His scarf is dotted white with snow.

"Missed you."

"You too."

"Good flight?" Kyle says, turning to look over his shoulder. He pulls away from his spot. He wants to keep watching William, see the way he buckles in and rests his head against the seat, eyes gentle and sleepy, but the Pearson road system was designed by a sadist so he keeps his eyes forward.

"I slept through some of it," William says. He yawns. "There was a baby along the row from me and she didn't cry once the whole flight. Her name was Clara."

"Cute."

"Her mom let me play peekaboo with her."

Kyle chances running off the road. William is texting someone, probably his family to let them know he's alive, but he looks up to smile at Kyle.

It's hasn't been that long, the two of them; four months since William scrawled his phone number on the back of the lunch bill for Kyle to find, four months since Kyle's face turned into a very dorky looking radish in front of Shanny and Brendan and the bread basket. A good four months - tricky, at first, navigating William's work schedule and college friends and his brand of twenty-three year old angst - but. Worth it.

"I missed you a lot," William says. They haven't spent much time away from each other, haven't wanted to. "But Eudora missed you more."

"Shut up!" she hisses from the back.

"You did!"

Kyle checks his mirror; they're cuddled together in the backseat, Kex's flat black nose pressed into Eudora's white fur. Kex likes to sleep with their head pressed in the tufts of fur along Eudora's breast in the early hours at William's apartment, mud brown eyes blinking up at Kyle because they didn't want to leave, didn't want to go to work this morning, thank you.

It felt like someone brushing up against his heart, the first time they touched. Now it's familiar warmth.

"Did your family like the jam?"

"They loved it."

"Really?"

William's hand looks decidedly empty, palm up on his thigh, so Kyle slides their fingers together. William's hands are long and strong and soft, not made for anything more laborious than stirring a pot of simmering Saskatoon berries while fending off Kyle's distracting kisses.

"I'm not great at cooking," William said, on their second date, twirling pasta on his fork in Kyle's kitchen. "But I make really good jam. My grandmother taught me."

"How was your family?"

"Good," William says. He's snuggling really hard, hasn't taken his coat or hat or Kyle's scarf off. "It was weird without Alex, though. They're playing here soon, right? I'll have to get tickets."

"I can probably help with that."

"Big shot," William says, grinning now. "My dad wants to meet you so badly. I swear they're going to show up unannounced one night at my place. He wanted to know how you landed Tavares and I was like, 'Dad, I have no idea. I can tell you which Fast & Furious movie is Kyle's favourite. That's it.'"

"Both very important things."

"I think so."

They like each other even though they sort of fit together weird. William says Kyle looks like a man in an old photograph, likes to kiss him before he leaves for games in his suits. Kyle thinks William looks like something fleeting; he was scared, even, when he made the first phone call that William would be a bright, beautiful flash of light in his life and would leave everything dark in his retreat.

Instead, he has a boy in his bed most mornings, a boy and his little arctic fox, both deeply dedicated and earnest and prone to tickling when Kyle is trying to read his emails.

Now, they're turning onto Allen Road, the TTC adverts above them and the glowing hub of Yorkdale to the right. Kyle's only been to the tourist spots in Stockholm and the arenas, never the underbelly; he wonders if it has the same ugly network of grey roads and bridges like Toronto, if William could be born of such a place.

"Do you want me to drive you to yours?" Kyle asks.

"No thank you," William says, coy and sweet and sleepy.

Kyle's house is quiet, dark. It seems to have missed William too, glows as they turn the lights on, as William holds the bannister to take his boots off. His hair is greasy under his toque and he smells like plane. He's pink all over when he finally tucks himself into Kyle's side to get upstairs, flushed cheeks, nose, neck, his hands hot on either side of Kyle's stomach.

Eudora trots into the bedroom before they do, her white tail brushing along the floor. William yawns, following her. "I'm tired."

"Uh huh."

"It's nice to be back," William says. He turns, hooks his arms around Kyle's neck. "I missed your big house and your family photos and your old man duvet."

"Plaid is universal, William, no one hates plaid."

"Old man," William says and he kisses Kyle three times because he's into it. There's a soft noise and Kyle breaks away, sees Kex curled up on Kyle's side of the bed and Eudora turning in circles, patting down the duvet with her paws. Kex blinks at Kyle, serene and sleepy.

"I missed you," William says again, but he's not looking at Kyle. Kex, shy and prone to crawling under the bed when given too much of William's attention, hides their face under themself. William laughs, sweet, and coos: "Aww babe."

"Do you want to shower? There are fresh towels."

"Too sleepy," He goes mostly limp in Kyle's arms, letting Kyle hold him up. "Wanna bed now."

"Teeth?" Kyle asks. "Do you think we could brush our teeth, maybe?"

William seems to consider that for a few moments. "You would still kiss me if I didn't and my teeth were all yucky and my breath was stinky."

"Yes," Kyle admits, "But I would like kissing you so much more if you tasted like mint and were a nice, clean boy."

William groans all the way into the bathroom and then all the way back into the bedroom so he can dig through his backpack to get his toothbrush. They brush their teeth side by side, William's head up against Kyle's arm, mirror reflecting two tired boys blinking against the harsh light.

Kyle gets them water from the kitchen downstairs. William puts his one million face creams on his face. He likes this one shirt of Kyle's, a high school gym shirt from his father; it has holes under the armpit and along the collar and William likes to sleep in it because it's worn so thin it's soft.

He's already tucked in when Kyle returns with their water glasses.

"Let me know if you get cold," Kyle says, stripping out of his jeans. He leaves them next to his dresser in the unofficial not-dirty-not-clean pile he has going on. "These windows need replacing over the summer. They've been really drafty at night."

"That's what you get for buying an old house, old man."

"You like my old house," Kyle says, ditching his socks in the hamper. He pulls his sweater off, shivers with his chest bare. "And you like this old man, so quiet, you."

William laughs into his pillow. His hair is fluffed out over it, dark at the root with grease and gilded white gold at the tips. It fades into Eudora, curled up on the other half of the pillow, with her snout in the pale skin at the back of William's neck.

Kex doesn't talk much. They always said, growing up, that Kyle talked enough for the both of them. They're a lot like William, if Kyle dares to think it, reassuring and good at touching him when he needs it. Like now, Kex slinks themselves around Kyle's torso as he slides into bed and up under his arm.

Will tucks himself on the other side of Kyle, head on Kyle's shoulder, hands grabby around Kyle's arm. He slots their fingers together and pulls until William's hand is flat over the swell of Kyle's stomach, Kyle's hand curled into it from above.

"Stockholm is nice," William says, mouth dewy against Kyle's skin. "I missed you more than I thought I would."

Kyle can't see the ceiling because it's dark and he's mostly blind. He takes a deep breath, their mixed up hands rising with it. Kex nips the skin of Kyle's ribs between their teeth, just gentle, a reaction to William's words.

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder, or whatever."

"Nope," William says. His voice gets slow and higher pitched, when he's being silly. "We shan't be parted again. I'll just quit my job and sublet my apartment and follow you everywhere from now on. Eudora and I can't stand to be away from you again."

"Well, if you must."

"I must."

"We're going to Winnipeg on Thursday," Kyle says. He strokes his thumb over William's thumb. It's easier, now, to breathe. Things are always easier when he can tease, when William's voice goes from low and serious to goofy. "I'll make sure to get you a seat on the plane."

He feels William's pout against his arm. "Don't wanna go to Winnipeg."

"I thought we were starting a new life together," Kyle says. He tilts his chin so he can mouth at the top of William's head, his greasy hair. "You can join me tomorrow morning for my super fun administrative meeting. Sam has a powerpoint about sustainable recycling I think you're really going to enjoy."

"I take back my earlier statements," William says, giggly. He dips one finger into Kyle's bellybutton, circles it in and out. "I'll only be joining you on your sexy outings. When you go to tropical places and have sexy meetings and stuff."

"Ah yes, the sexy meetings and tropical locations an ice hockey manager has."

William giggles, kisses his skin. He kisses it again, in the same place, that weird pocket of fat and skin between arm and torso. He wants to say something else and he will; William doesn't need prodding, is brave with his feelings and says things even when he knows Kyle isn't ready to hear them.

"Don't freak out," William says, eventually, low.

"I don't freak out," Kyle says, heart pounding a little hard.

"Please just take a deep breath," William says. "Relax."

"William."

"I wanna try something," he says. He hasn't moved, just his lips brushing against Kyle's skin. "But you need to relax first."

"If this is some weird sex thing, I'm way too tired right now Will-"

"Just close your eyes." Kex burrows their head into Kyle's side, antsy. "And take a deep breath. And relax, would you, your shoulder has gone still like a concrete block."

In through his nose and then out through his mouth, Kyle breathes. William doesn't move but there's a sound, something soft against sheets. William's hand grips his fingers and Kyle is about to say something when he feels fur against his belly.

Eudora is soft.

She pads between their bodies, where William is curled around his arm. Her fur leaves Kyle's skin goosepimpled, makes his breath hitch. He - he's never felt another person's daemon before. Not ever.

"Relax," William breathes, shaky.

"Will-"

"She wants to," William continues. He sounds overwhelmed, his voice caught like the first time they were in this bed together. "She talked about it the whole plane ride."

"You told me you wouldn't tell him that," Eudora says.

She noses at Kyle's chin. Kyle doesn't know how to move or how to speak. Her nose is cool, black and sharp against her white snout. She's beautiful, like William, soft and snuggly with clever eyes and a happy face. Her little pink tongue comes out to lick his chin, his cheek.

William laughs. "She likes you more than me."

Kyle looks at her. She looks back, then licks his nose. He can't help his splutter, William's laugh, the way Eudora seems to be laughing too.

"You can touch me," she says.

Her ears are soft and small. She's long and puffy, with little legs and paws that curl into Kyle's collarbone where she's pressed up against him. When Kyle scratches between her ears, she and William both let out little sighs, their eyes closed.

It's scary, having this much power over someone. Kyle strokes his finger down Eudora's snout. "I don't think - Kex can't - "

"It's okay," William says, quick, "We understand."

Kex quivers next to him, still tucked up against Kyle's side. They were always shy, even when Kyle was in school, at parties, at events. They've always been content to stay over Kyle's shoulder and watch everyone, quiet, letting Kyle take the lead.

"You're beautiful," Kyle tells Eudora and she bristles up in pleasure just like William does. She climbs up onto his chest, over their tangled hands, and stretches out along his skin like Kyle's family calico used to. Her head tucks under his chin, her tail curled over his hips.

William kisses him again, in that same spot.

"Maybe one day," Kyle starts, then stops. He feels William smile. Their hands are stuck under Eudora's thick fur. Kyle loves the weight of her on him. "Kex will. They might want to, one day."

"We could go swimming."

Kyle smiles. He thinks of them, wet and sparkling in the lake behind the cabin his grandfather built. Kex likes to lay on his chest when they swim, fall asleep floating together; he imagines them on William, their brown fur wet and fluffy, William's hand on their stomach.

"They would love that," Kyle whispers. "They like you they're just -" Kex noses at his side, whines loud enough so they can both hear it. "- shy."

"I know you're not like me," William says, soft. Kyle's seen photos, the Nylanders and their tangle of daemons, Alex with Eudora in his arms like a teddy bear. "We grew up different and that's okay. I just wanted to feel it. It feels so good, your hands on her."

Kyle nods. William's voice is low again. He swallows.

"But we can go to bed, now." William pulls at their hands until they're free from Eudora's warmth, back down between their bodies. His knee curls over Kyle's knee. "And you can make me breakfast tomorrow and go to your meeting and I'll bring back tiramisu from the restaurant because I know you like it best."

"When does your shift end tomorrow?"

"Ten," William says in a grumpy sigh.

Kyle lets his freed hand out of William's, strokes it down Eudora's back. She licks his skin and it tickles but not too much. He's scared to roll over in the night and elbow her. He wants to keep extra still, just in case.

"I'll wait up for you."

"You don't have to."

"I will."

Kyle can't see William's face tucked into his arm or Eudora curled into him or Kex bundled against his ribs. He breathes into the air, imagines it going white like when it's below zero and they're tucked up headed to dinner, or when he takes William to the rink to skate, or when they're kissing in the car and every breath turns the windows foggy. He imagines the air reaching his ceiling and spreading out, forming an atmosphere around them to keep this moment, his person and their daemons and this warmth, keep it safe and tucked away.

Eudora is heavy on his chest and Kyle is overheated. He sleeps soundly.

**Author's Note:**

> [kex the river otter](https://youtu.be/y6u7gWmYxnA?t=16)   
[eudora the arctic fox](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EiV-ERKRRs)
> 
> [yell at me on tumblr](https://statsmcbitch.tumblr.com/)


End file.
